Former top Evangelical says he sinned sexually

November 06, 2006

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Saying that he was a "deceiver and liar" who had given in to his dark side, the Rev. Ted Haggard confessed to sexual immorality Sunday in a letter read from the pulpit of the megachurch he founded. The disgraced former president of the National Evangelical Association, which represents 30 million evangelical Christians, apologized and said "because of pride, I began deceiving those I love the most because I didn't want to hurt or disappoint them." "The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life," he said. Haggard, 50, resigned last week as NEA president, where he held sway in Washington and condemned homosexuality, after a man claimed to have had drug-fueled homosexual trysts with him. Haggard also placed himself on administrative leave from the 14,000-member New Life Church, which he founded in the 1980s. Its independent Overseer Board fired him Saturday. The letter was read to the New Life Church by another clergyman, the Rev. Larry Stockstill, senior pastor of Bethany World Prayer Center in Baker, La., and a member of the board that fired him. Neither Haggard nor his wife, Gayle, attended. In his letter, Haggard said "the accusations made against me are not all true but enough of them are that I was appropriately removed from his church leadership position." He did not give details on which accusations were true.